1. Field
The present technology relates to high-temperature burners. More particularly, various embodiments of the technology involve high-temperature burners with detachable nozzles for use with gasification reactors.
2. Related Art
Gasification reactors are used to convert generally solid feedstock into gaseous products. For example, gasifiers may gasify carbonaceous feedstock, such as coal and/or petroleum coke, to produce desirable gaseous products such as hydrogen. Gasification reactors include one or more burners for conveying oxidants and feedstocks to a reaction chamber, where combustion takes place at temperatures that may reach 2600° Fahrenheit or more.
Each burner includes a body and a nozzle. Because the nozzle is exposed to the heat and turbulence of the reaction chamber, the nozzle is typically the first part of the burner to degrade or wear out, and may wear out long before other parts of the burner. When the nozzle degrades to the point of failure, the burner must be repaired. Repair of the burner involves removing the burner from the gasification reactor or other system of which it is a part and refurbishing the burner. Both removing and refurbishing the burner can be quite involved. For example, removing the burner involves cutting or otherwise detaching various feed lines, including oxidant lines and feedstock lines, and physically removing the burner from the gasification reactor. Refurbishing the burner is also typically very involved. Because of the tools and the skills required to refurbish the burner, the burner may need to be shipped to an external facility that specializes in such repair work.
Because of the size of the burner, handling and shipping the burner can be an expensive and time-consuming process. Thus, the time required to refurbish a burner can be several months. In some applications, the time required to refurbish each burner may necessitate maintaining multiple burners in inventory in the event that a burner should fail before a second burner has been refurbished.